A bomb menace prompted an evacuation at Barnard School Wednesday night as anti-Israel protesters occupied a campus constructing for a second consecutive week.
Greater than 50 NYPD officers in riot gear had been on the scene, ordering the greater than 200 unruly keffiyeh-shrouded college students to exit the Milstein Middle and filter out at the least 1,000 ft from the courtyard.
As cops struggled to take away protesters from the campus grounds, Columbia college students joined within the fracas from throughout the road, chanting in solidarity with the Barnard college students, “NYPD, KKK, they’re all the identical.”
Police ultimately cleared the courtyard, however the college students milled about on the garden exterior the constructing chanting, “no justice, no peace.”
After ignoring a number of orders to maneuver a protected distance from the constructing, cops arrested a number of individuals and took them into custody. It was not instantly identified what number of arrests had been made.
The protesters had taken over the constructing, which serves as the educational hub of the elite personal college, hanging an Outdated West-style “Needed” poster and an effigy of college directors in a startling escalation of their rhetoric.
Moments earlier than the bomb menace was known as in, the mob had been participating in a raucous protest over two college students who had been expelled final month for barging into a category on trendy Israel and tossing antisemitic flyers across the room.
An official division X account warned that “anybody who refuses to go away the situation is topic to arrest.”
As the scholars barged into the constructing, they hung a big poster that includes Dean of College students Leslie Grinage on one of many constructing’s exterior plate home windows, full with Outdated West-style kind.
“WANTED: Dean of College students Leslie Grinage for the expulsion of pro-Palestinian college students. Reward for information resulting in a gathering,” the poster learn, which included a likeness of the administrator.
On the entrance door of the constructing, masked protesters hung a shoddy effigy — which was truly a luxurious puppet — of Barnard President Laura Rosenbury, who castigated pupil protesters for refusing to take away their masks in an op-ed in The Chronicle of Larger Training final week.
Earlier than the bomb menace, Barnard despatched out an e mail alerting the varsity group and denouncing the demonstration.
“Our tutorial mission is on the coronary heart of what we do, and disruptions to that mission are an affront to the aim of upper training and can’t be tolerated,” the missive learn, partially.
“When masked disruptors first entered Milstein, courses had been happening, amenities had been cleansing school rooms, and eating workers had been making ready meals. We should not enable the actions of some intervene with our mission. Campus actions exterior of Milstein and all through the remainder of the campus are continuing as regular.”
The college didn’t reply to follow-up questions concerning the bomb menace.
Final Wednesday, a number of dozen protesters stormed the campus’ Milbank Corridor for a number of hours, egged on by pro-Hamas group Columbia College students for Justice in Palestine.
They demanded the expelled college students be reinstated in addition to amnesty for any protesters who had been arrested for his or her actions throughout earlier campus demonstrations.
A faculty safety officer was injured in final week’s occupation, sending him to the hospital complaining of chest pains.
This can be a creating story. Please verify again for extra updates.
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